i would like to introduce myself to this forum, i am Hamza from jordan living in kuwait, i am in the process of purchasing a 2011 135i, and i was looking in this forum for any beginners guide to modding this little beast.

is there a certain thread that you guys have explained the basics for newbies such as myself?

if not, can we start a thread here that discusses all the possible basic mods that can be applied on a stock 135i and its performance impact.

preferred brands and parts, usual problems that comes along with modding (if any), best way to maintain your 1'er, best after market brands. and if you guys can share the first stages of your modded 1'ers.

i am new to forums in general so i dont know where to look, i can tell that you guys have put a lot of effort and information in this forum. keep it up !!

i am expecting to get my 1'er soon, hopefully if everything goes as planned i will be posting her pic's by end of Jan.

appreciate your help gentlemen, and hope i'ld be adding value to this forum as you all are.

I don't know of a comprehensive guide to modding the 135i, but I recently went through the process of learning all of this stuff (just got mine a couple of months ago), so I'd be happy to share the knowledge that I've picked up. What sorts of mods are you mainly interested in? Straight-line speed? Handling? Cosmetics? Interior? Audio/entertainment?

In terms of straight-line speed, the best thing you can do is get an aftermarket tune. The most popular ones are JB4, Procede, and Cobb. They'll all give you an extra 60-80 hp and a LOT of extra pep. They also help you extract more power from standard mods like exhaust/downpipes (20-30 hp), intercooler (10-20 hp), etc.

Another very effective performance mod is improved tires. Being in Kuwait, you're blessed with the ability to run summer tires year-round. Replace your run-flats with some max-performance summer tires and your car will become a lot faster. If your budget allows it, you can get even better performance if you get lighter/wider wheels and wider tires.

For handling, there is a lot of debate regarding what to do first. The roads in Kuwait are really nice, so ride harshness probably isn't as much of an issue for you as it is for some others... so I'd suggest starting with coilovers or aftermarket shocks/springs. There are a lot of options on the market, but the specifics depend on what exactly you want. The next step would be to consider front/rear sway bars, camber plates, and M3 suspension bits (starting with lower control arms and rear subframe bushings).

There are also two other general performance mods. One is a mechanical limited-slip differential, which can be pricey, but it's arguably the biggest difference between your car and an M-car (aside from wider body/tires and stiffer suspension, which are cheaper/easier mods). The other is braking, which can be done in several stages (performance pads, lightweight/drilled/slotted rotors, stainless brake lines, etc.). If you're interested, I'll tell you more about it.

For exterior cosmetics, there are a lot of body kits available, depending on how much you want to spend. Personally, I think that a cheap eBay front lip with aftermarket wheels and a lowered suspension are enough to make the car look way more aggressive. Some people prefer to make more thorough changes. I'm planning to do a 1M front-end conversion eventually, but not yet.

For interior, there are lots of bits here and there. Shift knobs, accents, trim, etc.

For audio, there is a lot of discussion in the e90post forums about the different setups, but there are a couple of posts summarizing the "best bang for your buck" setups. I won't go into too much detail here unless you say that it's a particular interest of yours.

So that's a brief overview. Tell me which areas interest you and I'll go into more detail.

ild probably say ild like to mod everything, but baby steps are always the way to go.

ild like to start with the simplest mods, and probably would leave interior exterior till the very end, unless i find some sweat deals.

having said that, i diffenately want to start pumping more hourses up this beast.
and from what ive got from your reply is that theres a different setup for each person that results in a certain fix. for example some people mod to drag race some people mod to track race some people mod to drift and so on.

what am looking for is a mod that will help me take control of the car, drift when i want to drift and have fun with the car, and also to a certain point be grippy enough to enjoy a nice cruise on a highway.

as a first stage what should i be modding, so that the car still is an everyday car but has a split personality to it,

also i would like to bring to your attention that kuwait is pretty much cold in winter, hence i dont think summer tires would serve me good in winter, and as for roads in kuwait, i would generalize and say it all perfectly poored concrete, highways might be the smoothest but inner city roads, eyakh!!

anyways so what do you think my first mod should be, at least to start having some fun with the car .

There's definitely no comprehensive 1 thread for all of this, but I would agree that the piggyback or flash tune is a great first step (I personally have a JB4, but I have nothing bad to say about the other options). In fact, I would probably try a Cobb if I could because you can do tuning specifically for your car even remotely by sending logs and have someone (for extra money of course) create a flash specifically to get the most out of your car. Heck, even the most advanced JB4 now comes with the Cobb and they work together. That's a good first step for power.

For handling, there's a lot of debate. Except one - ditch the run-flat tires. A lot of people go for the M3 bits first, but other than that you obviously can get coilovers, swaybars, etc. The standard brakes are pretty damn good so a lot of people keep them.

I won't go into much more detail, because there is so much info out there that there's no way to really put it in 1 post. You mentioned common problems with tuning though, and one thing is the dealer warranty. Unless you have some sort of special relationship with the dealer many if not all of these can result in them denying you warranty work. Since you are in Kuwait I don't know what sort of laws there are about this if any, because in the US they can't deny you warranty work if you've modded something unrelated (i.e. they can't deny fixing your injectors for example because of your coilovers, or even exhaust), but it might differ where you are. Here in Russia they'd definitely tell you you've voided your warranty completely and bye-bye.

With regards to the best brands and models of stuff, I think you'll find a debate on most things, there's no clear-cut answer. And obviously the price ranges are vast, the most expensive downpipes can easily be over 2x more expensive than the cheapest, etc.

having said that, i diffenately want to start pumping more hourses up this beast.
and from what ive got from your reply is that theres a different setup for each person that results in a certain fix. for example some people mod to drag race some people mod to track race some people mod to drift and so on.

Well, if you want more horses, the best first mod is an aftermarket tune, such as JB4 ($500), Cobb ($800), or Procede ($500). That'll get you a good 60-80 hp, and it'll give you the opportunity to gain extra hp when you use aftermarket downpipes ($400-800, 20 hp), exhaust ($500-1000, 10-20 hp), and intercooler ($400-800, 10-20 hp).

As far as choosing brands, there is a lot of discussion and there's no outright favorite in terms of bang-for-buck. They all have pros and cons. I'm not convinced that there's a big difference between different brands of exhaust/intake/intercoolerse/etc.

But you should definitely start out with a tune... JB4 is my favorite (lots of features, easy switching between different maps), but some people prefer Cobb (supposedly smoother) or Procede (should be similar to JB4, but I haven't used it).

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what am looking for is a mod that will help me take control of the car, drift when i want to drift and have fun with the car, and also to a certain point be grippy enough to enjoy a nice cruise on a highway.

If you want to take control of the car, coilovers will completely change the way that the car feels. Or just springs/shocks. Again, there are a lot of options, depending on your budget and your needs in terms of comfort vs performance. I have the BMW Performance suspension, which is a bit overpriced, but maintains your warranty because it's made by BMW. For the same price, you can get something adjustable from KW of Bilstein.

I don't know much about drifting, so I can't tell you much there.

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as a first stage what should i be modding, so that the car still is an everyday car but has a split personality to it,

Tune. Definitely a tune. Everybody agrees that it's the first mod to give your car that "split personality."

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also i would like to bring to your attention that kuwait is pretty much cold in winter, hence i dont think summer tires would serve me good in winter,

Summer tires are fine for Kuwait cold. You only really need winter/all-season tires if you have snow/ice on the roads. Summer tires are also suboptimal in below-freezing temperatures, but most people agree that it's not worth spending the money for an extra set of tires just for the occasional freezing temperature.

Here in Chicago, we need winter tires because there is snow everywhere and the temperature never goes above freezing in January.

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and as for roads in kuwait, i would generalize and say it all perfectly poored concrete, highways might be the smoothest but inner city roads, eyakh!!

Ah, well, if you drive on a lot of crappy roads, you might not want to get too stiff of a suspension. Koni FSDs are known for being comfortable on bad roads with decent handling when you want it (but they're not adjustable, and you have to buy springs separately). If your budget allows it, you can also go to KW V3 or Bilstein B19 with the electronic ride control, which will allow you to have a comfortable suspension when you want, and then push a button to go into "sport" mode. And if you don't mind the harshness, you could go for a more traditional coilover set.

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anyways so what do you think my first mod should be, at least to start having some fun with the car .

that was more than enough i know now whats my first mod is going to be,
diffenately an informative reply, thanks for the help bro bro.

hopefully ill be getting my car in a month or so, will post pictures and more threads to show you guys the progress and get your opinion along the way.

guys i really apreciate your support.

another question tho, i noticed that there are two types of tail lights for the 135i the stock one that has three horizontal red lines and the other one which has two rotated L shaped "in a way" bold lines. r the second ones aftermarket or are they the tail lights our the 1M? and how can i get them?

another question tho, i noticed that there are two types of tail lights for the 135i the stock one that has three horizontal red lines and the other one which has two rotated L shaped "in a way" bold lines. r the second ones aftermarket or are they the tail lights our the 1M? and how can i get them?

Those are LCI (Facelift) tail lights. Those lights can be ordered from here if you want the blackline (smoked) version

M7ammed these tail lights are sick, loving the tinted look !
thanks for the heads up is the website you gave me selling the same tail lights on the second thread you provided with the black and white 1'ers? same product?

M7ammed these tail lights are sick, loving the tinted look !
thanks for the heads up is the website you gave me selling the same tail lights on the second thread you provided with the black and white 1'ers? same product?

hi hamza,,
modding should always be progressive the way you're planning to do. but before doing so, know the car and it's limits.
spend enough time driving and get to know what exactly u need to improve.
don't mod for the sake of modding,, you can save lot's of Dinars by knowing your car well...

hi hamza,,
modding should always be progressive the way you're planning to do. but before doing so, know the car and it's limits.
spend enough time driving and get to know what exactly u need to improve.
don't mod for the sake of modding,, you can save lot's of Dinars by knowing your car well...

good luck,
Mohammad
Kuwait

thats good logical advice mohammad,
will go by it for now, and modd accordingly to what i see needs to be modded.